Bullet Holes
by bluedragon03
Summary: Mavis Vermilion, a junior in High School, meets a boy on the street who claims to have graduated early. Knowing she needs a tutor for her AP classes, she asks him to help her. Over time, she realizes this boy has a dark past, one that might not necessarily be in the past.
1. Chapter 1

***A/N- So anyone who follows my tumblr neverticklethissleepingdragon knows that this story has been a long time coming, and I mean a long time. They would also know the entire plot of this fic basically because I keep publishing one shots in this universe but never actually writing this fic XD XD XD XD. Well for those of you who know where this is going, I hope you enjoy the ride! For those of you who don't, I hope you like this!**

Mavis didn't usually talk to strangers. The guys had made it very clear that such was a dangerous practice, but there was just something about the boy she saw that day sitting alone in a stoop in a bad part of town that coaxed the words right out of her.

"You seem lonely." The two blinked at each other, equally shocked by the words. Mavis wasn't sure where the words came from, Warrod had been sure to teach her manners, and blurting out something like that without so much as a greeting certainly did not classify as polite.

"I am," the boy responded, so shocked by Mavis's outburst the truth just slipped from him.

Mavis and the boy stared at each other for a few moments, wondering what had just happened. Their interaction hadn't been normal on any level, and now both of them were left in the wake of it feeling a bit incredulous. Where did they go from here? Did they strike up a conversation about why the boy was lonely, or did they move on and pretend this had never happened?

They each used the prolonged silence to take in the appearance of the other. The boy took note of Mavis's school uniform, as well as her long blonde hair and alarmingly green eyes. Mavis observed the boy's mop of black hair, the cowlick in the center of his head, and his black eyes. She saw that he appeared to be her age, yet he was not wearing a school uniform. Perhaps he had quit school or skipped that day. A few more moments passed before Mavis once again realized how _weird_ this was.

"I'm sorry, that was rude. My name is Mavis, what's yours?" She extended her hand cheerfully and the boy took it warily.

"Zeref," he said, "sorry if I worried you."

"Don't worry about it. Why don't we go get some ice cream, Zeref?" Zeref sat back a little, feeling uncomfortable. "Because honestly 've been feeling a bit lonely as well. My best friend has been out all week, so I need someone to talk too."

Zeref opened his mouth to refuse, but something in her face had him speaking words of ascent instead. "Sure." He had money enough in his pockets to pay for his own, and he could really use the company, even as the voice in his head told him this was a terrible idea.

"WHAT?" Mavis exclaimed, drawing annoyed looks from the people around them. "Sorry, but I can't believe you graduated early, you must be really smart!"

"Uh," he said, feeling uncomfortable having her attention fixed so wholly on him. He found that he liked the uncanny green of her eyes entirely _too_ much. "I guess."

"How old are you? You look like you're about my age."

"I'm seventeen."

"I knew it!" Mavis exclaimed, "that means you're in the grade above me, right? Would you have graduated this year?"

"Yeah."

"Well, if I don't get my science grade up you'll end up being two years ahead of me if I don't get my science grade up.," she mumbled, looking aggravated. "You know I usually don't have trouble with it, but I just can't understand what this teacher is trying to say."

"That happens sometimes," Zeref said, "I've had a few bad teachers. Have you tried teaching yourself?"

"Yes," Mavis pouted, "but I'm no good at it." Mavis's face lit up and she sprang forward in her seat, giving him a glowing look that did something strange to Zeref's insides. He found himself drawn to the light this girl seemed to be constantly radiating. "I have an idea! Will _you_ teach me?"

"W-what?" He spluttered.

"I want you to tutor me!" Mavis repeated. "You graduated early so you must be really smart, and the guys could pay you to do it! We could meet anywhere, here, the library, or even my house!"

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Zeref said gingerly. Eating ice cream with this girl once was bad enough, but if he were to start meeting her on a regular basis...what if his enemies targeted her? _Your enemies don't know what you look like,_ a reckless voice inside his head said.

"Oh come on, please?" She begged. Her demeanor changed abruptly again, and suddenly she was deadly serious. "Please, I need you help. Something tells me you would make a good teacher."

He looked into her eyes that already pulled him towards her like a magnet, and felt his resolve crumble. He knew that this was a bad idea, he knew that he could possibly be putting this girl into danger by being around her, but his caution was overwritten by his desire to be near the light this girl possessed, the light that contrasted so starkly with his darkness.

"Alright," He said, "I'm in." The delight on her face was enough to drown out any lingering doubts he had.

Mavis excused herself to call "the guys" as she called them to say she'd finally found a tutor. She did a lot of smiling and nodding, and though Zeref couldn't hear what she was saying she kept glancing back at him like she was being asked to describe him. She made a hand gesture that seemed to suggest she was talking about his cow lick, and he reached up to smooth it down self consciously. A few minutes into the phone call her face turned anxious. She glanced back at him again and Zeref was able to read the words _I don't know_ on her lips.

Zeref found himself starting to feel apprehensive. Perhaps she had realized that she didn't know anything about him and that asking him to be her tutor was unwise. _She's probably right,_ a mean little voice inside his head said. He found he was surprisingly upset by the idea of Mavis changing her mind on him. _I must have been lonelier than I thought if I'm this bothered._ She nodded one last time, said the words _I'll ask him_ then hung up the phone. When she returned to the table she looked slightly anxious. Zeref braced himself for the bad news, still perplexed about how invested he already seemed to be in this relationship.

"Hey," she began, twiddling her thumbs, "the guys want to meet you, is that alright?"

"Wait, what?"

"The guys want you to come over and meet them, you know, they want to get to know you before they agree to let you tutor me. You don't have to if you don't have to if you don't want too."

"Oh, um, yeah. That's fine." Mavis lit up again, and Zeref couldn't hold back a small smile of his own.

"Really?"

"Yeah, I don't have anywhere else to be tonight."

"That's great!" Mavis exclaimed. She slapped a few bills onto the table and dragged him out of his chair and to the door. Zeref blinked at their joined hands; how long had it been since he'd held someone's hand? "Hurry up or we'll miss the bus!" She said, snapping him out of his thoughts and back to reality.

"Sorry, I'm coming!"

This girl's energy was entrancing. He hadn't met anyone as cheerful as her in years. Well, that wasn't quite true, Serena was pretty high energy all the time, and so was Wahl, but that was different. Mavis seemed to _glow_ like she had a light shining inside her that illuminated everyone around her. Zeref felt like a moth drawn to a flame. Mavis turned mid stride and beamed at him again.

"I'm so excited!" She said. "You're going to love Yury, Precht, and Warrod, they're great!"

"Um, who?" _How can one person contain so much joy?_

"You know, the guys! My legal guardians! I've lived with them since forever."

So Mavis was an orphan as well? At least, that's what she had made it sound like when she referred to her "legal guardians." Zeref wondered if she remembered her birth parents at all, or if she was too young to remember when whatever happened happened.

Sometimes Zeref wished he'd been too young to remember when he'd lost everything, but then he'd remember his brothers bright smile and laugh, and he'd feel guilty for ever feeling that way. What would his parents say now, if they could see him? Would they be proud or disappointed in all he'd built? Zeref thought with a smile that no matter what he did, Natsu would have thought it was "awesome."

"Oh, are you alright?" Zeref's eyes snapped to Mavis, and he shook himself, noticing that everything around him was blurry now. _You idiot, you can't just start crying like that, get a grip._ He blinked away the tears that had gathered in his eyes at the memory of his lost family, and offered Mavis a smile of his own.

"Yeah, sorry, I was about to sneeze." Mavis looked like she sincerely doubted it, but she replied anyway, probably assuming if he had been lying after all he didn't want to talk about it.

"Don't you just hate it when that happens! It's the worst!" Zeref chuckled, the first real laugh he'd had in awhile. There wasn't much laughter in his life.

"Yeah, it is."

The bus arrived, and Mavis hyped up again, tugging him by the hand to their seats. "It's only one stop away!"

"I'm home!" Mavis called, "and I brought Zeref!"

"We're in the living room!" A male voice replied. Mavis stepped inside and removed her shoes, then turned to look at him to be sure he was following.

"Hurry up," she said, "or you'll let bugs in!" Zeref nodded and set foot into Mavis's house, feeling rather nervous. What were her guardians like? Would they like him? Were they scary? What if they somehow recognized him for who he was?

Zeref may not have known what to expect, but you could have given him a hundred guesses and none of them would have come even close to what met his eyes when he stepped into the living room. The room was spacious but cozy, and well lit, but what drew his attention immediately were the two aggravated looking men wrestling on the couch over what appeared to be the remote.

One of them, the one that had it in his hand, had an eye patch and slicked back blonde hair. The other, more irritated looking man, had shaggy blonde hair and prominent eyelashes. As Zeref watched this scene with vague alarm the man with the eyepatch glanced up, saw Zeref, and snapped at the man with the eyelashes.

"Would you stop acting like a fool, Mavis has company!" The second man turned, saw Zeref, and immediately began acting flustered.

"Right, uh, sorry," The man said. "Here, sit." He indicated an arm chair across from the couch, and Zeref took it, watching Mavis squeeze herself in between the two men.

A third man entered the room, and Zeref's first thought was that he looked like a tree trunk. He didn't have much of a chin, so his face seemed to melt into his neck. His head was topped with fluffy black hair, and he was _huge._ Buffer than either of the other men, he made for a strange sight. To complete his odd picture, he was carrying a tray with a tea pot and several tea cups on it.

"I'm Warrod," he said, "would you like some tea?" Zeref nodded mutely, unsure of what to say. All eyes were fixated on him like they suddenly expected him to do a trick, and he was feeling acutely uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Oh!" Mavis said, suddenly becoming aware that she hadn't made any introductions. "This is Precht," she pointed to the man with the eyepatch. "This is Yury," she indicated the man with the eyelashes. "That's Warrod," she pointed to the tree man with the tea. "Guys, this is Zeref." They nodded in acknowledgement of each other.

"So," Warrod began, "Mavis said you graduated early?" He poured a cup of tea and handed it to Zeref, who nodded and accepted it. "What have you been doing since then?"

"Uhh," Zeref said. How was he supposed to respond to that? _Oh I've been pretty busy running the country's biggest and most efficient black market; buying and selling illegal arms, stolen antiquities, and other contraband?_

While those accomplishments, especially at his young age, might be impressive to some people, all of those people were fellow criminals. Zeref seriously doubted Mavis and her family would appreciate that sort of thing. They would probably call the police. The voice in his head telling him that this was a bad idea returned, and he started to think that maybe he should just leave now. Except, he couldn't. Mavis's expectant gaze pinned him to the spot and he struggled to force out an explanation.

"Ah, this and that," he tried lamely. Somehow, amazingly, miraculously, this seemed to be enough for the three men currently interrogating him, who moved on.

"And you would have been in the grade above Mavis?" Precht asked, watching Zeref appraisingly over the rim of his tea cup.

"That's what she told me."

"How are you with science?" Yury asked, " I don't know if she told you but that's the subject she needs help in. Her teacher is lousy, and none of us understand what she'd learning to help. Warrod's a botanist, but she's not taking Botany."

"She did tell me, and I'm pretty good at it."

"Excellent! That AP teacher has got their head stuck up their-"

" _Yury,_ " Warrod snapped, cutting him off.

"Ah, sorry," he said sheepishly. Zeref smiled, he liked the atmosphere in this family.

"How much do you charge for your tutoring?" Precht asked suddenly. Zeref, caught off guard, merely blinked.

"Uh, I- I don't know. I hadn't thought about it, I've never tutored before." In all honestly Zeref didn't know anything about what a tutor may charge. He knew what he charged to provided armed escorts to other crime bosses and their shipments of goods (he had the best security team out there), he knew how much he charged to fence goods, and he knew how much Eline charged when he needed her to make his problems go away. He'd never been required to know anything as trivial as the wages of a high school science tutor.

"How about seven jewel an hour?" Yury offered. Zeref was quiet. He honestly had no idea how that sounded. He had a vast amount of wealth stored in an offshore account courtesy of Wahl, but he hardly used it for anything. He didn't have any expenses outside his black market, so his wealth just piled up. Was seven jewel an hour a lot to normal people? How was he supposed to know that?

"That sounds fine," he said. If Yury had offered it it was probably close to the typical hourly wages of a tutor anyway.

"And what days can you tutor on?" Warrod asked.

Again, honestly? Zeref had no obligations at all unless he chose too, and he certainly didn't have any sort of regular schedule. He was basically free to wander around aimlessly as he pleased, trusting Invel to run things in his absence, but he couldn't tell them that. Having no obligations would be suspicious. Naturally, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm off an hour before school ends everyday."

"What about weekends?" Yury asked.

"Every other weekend." That wasn't weird, right?

"How can we contact you?"

"I have a phone," Zeref said, pulling out his personal phone- he'd left his work one in his office. Zeref exchanged numbers with all four people, and they became his only non-mob contacts.

"Now that's over with," Yury said, standing. "It's time for dinner." Everyone else got to their feet. Zeref followed suit, feeling distinctly spurned. He started moving towards the door, thinking he was kicked out rather abruptly when Mavis called out to him.

"Zeref, the dining room is this way!" He blinked in surprise for what felt like the thousandth time that night. _He was invited to dinner?_ He had just had ice cream with Mavis a little while ago, but he supposed he could eat again. He wondered vaguely what was for dinner, then was struck suddenly by how _nostalgic_ this all felt to him.

How long had it been since he'd sat down at a family meal? Not since he'd lost his family that's for sure. He'd been so _young_ then too, he could barely remember his family dinners now, but he still felt a sense of happiness when he thought about them. He hadn't eaten with other people like this in years.

"Zeref will you help me set the table?"

"Uh, sure."

While doing so he was overcome with a memory of doing this exact thing before. _Natsu, will you help me set the table? Be careful! Don't drop the plates or I'll have to clean it up!_ A yelp of pain snapped him out of his memory, and he looked around for the source. It seemed to be coming from the kitchen, and a few more seconds of listening told him Yury was trying to eat all the food before it was served. Zeref smiled faintly and set his plates down, arranging them the way he remembered doing in his childhood. It struck him how trivial all these things he was marveling at were, and how this might be a daily occurrence for him if things had turned out differently. He shook off those memories, he didn't want to dampen the night by randomly bursting into tears, after all.

"Are you still hungry after the ice cream?" Zeref asked Mavis, who made a frantic shushing gesture, but to no avail.

"You had ice cream before dinner again?" Precht asked from behind him. Zeref jumped slightly and looked over his shoulder at the man who was looking, annoyed, at Mavis. As Zeref watched Yury came up at Precht's shoulder, holding a tray of food.

"Give it a rest, Precht, let the kid live."

"As long as she didn't spoil her supper, I see no problem with it," Warrod interjected, carrying more food and setting it on the table.

"Alright, alright," Precht said, taking his seat.

The rest followed suit, and Zeref was participating in the first family dinner he'd attended in ages. Ordinary phrases that he had so rarely heard in context tickled his ears. Things like "pass the salt," and "how was your day," filled the air. Zeref sat and listened contentedly, tucking in to the food that had been set in front of him.

Yury was talking animatedly about something that had happened to him at work while Warrod listened politely and Precht rolled his eyes. Mavis was trying hard to conceal her giggle, when suddenly all eyes turned to Zeref.

"Oh yeah," Yury said, "that reminds me, what do you do for a living?" _Damn…_ Zeref thought, scrambling for a lie that he could sell.

"I, ah, work in retail."

 _I cannot believe I just said that._


	2. Chapter 2

***A/N- About Zeref's sleeping arrangements: I gave this a good deal of thought, and I didn't just decide to do it randomly. In cannon he wanders around a lot, and we know he stayed on Tenrou Island for a while, and he probably spends a lot of time sleeping outside in order to not accidentally kill an entire inn full of people. So, even though he has all his accommodations as emperor and such when he wants too, sometimes he just decides to sleep outside, so I decided to have him like that in this story too.**

 _I still can't believe I told them that,_ Zeref thought, as he searched for a place to sleep that night. ' _I work in retail' the universe must have a sick sense of irony for putting that in my head. Honestly. Retail? That couldn't be farther from the truth. Although I_ do _buy and sell things, none of it is legal._

Zeref sighed and resolved to stop worrying about it. He couldn't change what he'd said now, so he'd just have to deal with it. Besides, it could have been worse. It shouldn't be _too_ hard to fake knowledge of a job in retail. He _did_ sell things after all, so he could claim to be manager of a store or something. Maybe this wouldn't be _too_ bad.

He continued to wander the city as it got darker and the street lamps lit. He needed to find a place to sleep tonight. He usually slept in his office at headquarters, and though a few of the twelve had a guest room in their homes that he had been known to occupy (and sincerely regret it after he'd woken up at Serena's to Serena's maniacal laughter at one of his daytime television shows. He'd been forced to sit and watch at least three soap operas before managing to make his escape.) Invel always kept his house _so cold_ , and last time Zeref had slept at August's house he'd gotten an hour long lecture. So, the street it was.

Maybe the park? They had a few benches that were rather sheltered from the weather, but Zeref preferred to save those for the people that _actually_ had to stay outside. Zeref wasn't homeless, he had plenty of places he _could_ stay, he just didn't want to see anyone from work. He could have rented an apartment, but he didn't. He usually managed to find a comfortable enough place. It didn't look like it was going to rain tonight, so maybe a fire escape? Serena's building had one that was in pretty good shape, and Invel would be less likely to scold him if he could say he was at least _close_ to one of his bodyguards.

His decision made, Zeref began making his way to Serena's building, looking forward to getting some sleep.

In the morning Zeref sat up and stretched, his muscles aching vaguely from sleeping on the fire escape. _Oh well,_ he thought. He climbed down to the street and walked in a random direction, unsure of where he was going. He supposed he could go to the library and read a book, but he wasn't really in that sort of mood today. He wanted to be in a noisy place, so he turned his feet in the direction of one of the busiest walking bridges in the city, where he could loiter all day and no one would bother him. Well no one usually bothered him. Sometimes a stranger would randomly strike up a conversation with him, not that he minded. He would converse with them politely until they went on their way. Zeref wondered if anyone would talk to him today.

He made it to the bridge and walked out to the middle, then leaned against the railing, watching the traffic zoom by below them. He listened to the sounds of traffic around him and the snippets of conversation around him. He couldn't help but find normal people, living their normal, everyday lives, fascinating. What could it be like to live normally like that, to not have an entire criminal empire at your beck and call? And how strange would these people passing by find him if they knew of all his riches and power, but he still elected to sleep on a fire escape last night?

Sometimes he just wanted to be outside. Maybe tonight he would find a place in the park so he could be a bit further from the noise in the city. Maybe he would _leave_ the city for a while. What was stopping him, really? His memories from last night came flooding back. Meeting Mavis in the city, the dinner, agreeing to be her tutor. He supposed now he _did_ have an obligation, though he could easily call and cancel, he found that he didn't want to.

"I suppose any excursions outside the city will have to be day trips, then," he said aloud. He hadn't expected anyone to be paying attention, but his speech had caught the attention of two passing school girls. One of them made a loud squeaking noise and called his name.

"Zeref?" He turned, startled, and his eyes met those of Mavis Vermillion. Her green eyes sparkled in the sunlight, and he was momentarily too stunned to speak. When he finally managed to tear his eyes from her, he noticed the brown haired girl trying-and failing- to conceal herself behind Mavis.

"Oh, um, hi Mavis," he said, lifting his hand in half hearted wave.

"Zera and I were just about to get lunch," Mavis chirped.

"You must be Zera," Zeref said, extending his hand towards her politely. She merely flinched and his further behind Mavis. Zeref retracted his hand without comment, but gave Mavis an inquiring look.

"Zera is very shy," she explained.

"Oh.

"Zera," Mavis said, "this is Zeref, my new tutor."

"Hi," Zera said quietly.

"It's nice to meet you," Zeref replied politely.

"OH I KNOW!" Mavis started suddenly, grinning at Zeref. Zeref looked at her warily, knowing he probably wouldn't like where this was going. He'd only known Mavis for a day and already he was beginning to recognize that smile as one that would get him into trouble some day. But was that day today? "You should have lunch with me and Zera!"

"What?" Zeref and Zera said together.

"Yeah!" Mavis said, "We could all get to know each other better! Come on, it'll be fun!" Mavis grabbed his hand and bounced up and down on the spot, grinning up at him.

"I don't know…" he said slowly, looking between the two girls. Should he really be getting lunch with two school girls?

 _It's not like you're thirty,_ he thought. _They're your age. There's no reason you shouldn't._

 _Except that you're an infamous criminal._

 _But they don't know that._

Still, his better judgement was telling him that spending too much time with Mavis was a bad idea. He had a bad habit of bringing catastrophe to everything in his life that wasn't crime related, and he didn't want that misfortune to befall Mavis.

"Oh," she said, suddenly quieting. "Did you have plans?"

"Um, not exactly…"

"What does 'not exactly' mean?" Zera asked suddenly. "Either you do or you don't." He blinked at her a few times before replying.

"Well I was kinda planning on spending the day alone," he said.

"Yeah, but company is always more fun!" Mavis said.

"I guess…" Zeref said.

"HOORAY!" Mavis shouted mistaking his meaning. She threw her hands into the air, dragging Zeref's arm with her. He had forgotten that she still held his hand. Zeref made a small sound of surprise that made Mavis giggle before turning and half dragging him down the street, humming to herself.

"Where are we going?" Zeref asked.

"We were on our way to our favorite restaurant," Zera said, blushing profusely for no reason. _Mavis wasn't kidding, she is_ really _shy._

"I'm coming you know," Zeref said, "you don't have to drag me."

"Whoops, sorry." Mavis released his hand and skipped on ahead a few paces before stopping to wait on them.

"Is she always this energetic?" Zeref asked Zera, who blushed again, and answered him so quietly he could barely hear her.

"Only after she's had something sugary." _That explains a lot,_ Zeref thought. Last night when she'd been so hyped about him meeting her guardians she'd just had ice cream.

It turns out the restaurant wasn't far from where he'd been anyway, only a few doors down from the south end of the bridge. It was a small quaint place that wouldn't seat very many people, but seemed nice nevertheless. The food smelled nice anyway. When they entered the hostess greeted the two girls by name, it seemed they were regulars.

"And who's this?" She asked, smiling at Zeref. Zeref smiled back, a bit shyly, Mavis noticed. _So Zera isn't the only shy one around here,_ she thought.

"This is Zeref," Mavis answered for him. She was used to having to speak for Zera when she was too shy to do it herself, so she forgot to give Zeref a chance to speak. Not that it bothered Zeref, who would just as soon let Mavis do the talking. "He's my new tutor!"

"Oh thank goodness, you had me worried that you wouldn't find one!"

"Me too," Mavis said emphatically.

"Your usual booth?" Mavis nodded. The hostess grabbed three menus and led them to a booth. Mavis and Zera slid in next to each other, leaving Zeref the other side. The hostess set their menus on the table and pulled out her notepad. "What can I get you to drink?" Mavis ordered a Dr. Pepper, Zera got a lemonade, and Zeref ordered a Coke.

"I'll be right back with your drinks," she said.

Zeref picked up the menu and scanned it, wondering what was good. He glanced up and noticed that neither Mavis nor Zera had bothered to pick up their menus. Mavis was playing with the peg game that was on the table while Zera observed what she was doing critically. Well playing wasn't exactly what she was doing, she was just staring intently at it like she expected the pegs to move on their own.

Curiously Zeref watched as she seemed to come to a decision and began moving pegs quickly, still looking critical. She had the game finished in two minutes, the lone peg standing in the top point.

"Impressive," Zeref commented. So she really was smart. She finished that game quickly, although she had spent some time before doing what appeared to be strategizing. Had she planned out every move before she even started? _She'd be good at planning raids and defense details,_ he thought reflexively, then pushed the thought away.

"Thank you," Mavis said idly, setting the pegs back into the holes just as the hostess returned with their drinks.

"Did I miss the warm up?" She said jokingly, indicating the peg game in front of Mavis. Zeref furrowed his eyebrows at her. _Warm up?_

"She just finished," Zera said.

"Would you do the honors Sue?" Mavis said, pushing the peg game in her direction. Zeref watched, perplexed, as Sue took the game.

"I would be honored." She took a few seconds, her finger hovering over the pegs, before she lifted a seemingly random one and placed it in the hole at the top point of the triangle. **(Mavis is playing that game like they have at Cracker Barrel, but they aren't at Cracker Barrel.)**

"That's the same one you did last time!" Mavis complained.

"The challenge is you have to solve it differently than last time, but end with a blue peg where you ended with a red peg last time." Zeref tilted his head to the side. Now _that_ sounded interesting. What exactly kind of girl had he befriended? Mavis's face changed from bored to confident and analytic, and she grinned.

"Challenge accepted." Sue glanced to the side and chuckled.

"Oh honey you really are new, if you aren't familiar with this routine."

"I met him last night," Mavis said idly, staring intensely at the game. Zera's attention had wandered to making a crawly snake with her straw wrapper, but Zeref was still curious about the game.

"Last night? Well, this is Mavis's thing. She's quite the little strategist, I'll never forget the first time she came here she solved that game in a minute flat. Then it became her mission to solve the puzzle in every way possible, which she did that same day. Then she started moving the original hole to start, and now every time she comes I choose a random hole and make up new rules for her to keep things interesting."

Zeref's gaze flicked to Mavis, who was nodding absentmindedly at the story.

"How many different ways do you want it solved?" She asked.

"Three," Sue replied. "Before Zera's first refill."

"Agreed."

"Why Zera's?" Zeref asked out of curiosity. The woman only gestured at the crawly snake Zera was in the process of making.

"Now what can I get you all?"

"The usual," Zera and Mavis replied together. Sue nodded like this was exactly what she expected to her, before turning her eyes to Zeref.

"Um, I'll have the steak." She asked how he wanted it cooked before leaving to give the ticket to the chef. Zeref heard the chef asking what Mavis's rules were this time.

"You guys are really known here, I just heard her telling the chef the rules she just gave you," Zeref commented.

"Oh yeah," Zera said idly, reaching over and taking his straw paper- probably for a crawly snake. "It's a big ordeal. When Mavis finishes the challenge then the chef and the waitresses come out and watch her solve it. Sometimes the other regulars too, if they know what's going on."

As if they'd been cued by her words a couple no older than twenty-five walked in, saw Mavis, and waved a greeting.

"Have we missed the solving yet?" The woman asked.

"Nope," The waitress replied, "I just gave her the puzzle. She has to solve it three ways before Zera's first drink refill."

"That sounds interesting," the man commented.

"Wow," Zeref said, returning the friendly wave of the couple. "You guys are really well known here."

"Not me," Zera says. "Just Mavis." Zera finished making a snake out of Zeref's straw wrapper and took Mavis's. She took a long sip of her drink, and Zeref couldn't help but notice that she didn't seem worried at all about rushing Mavis.

She dropped her lemonade idly on the crinkled straw wrapper, watching as it expanded. After it was finished she wiped up the droplets of lemonade and scooped up the soggy straw wrappers. She got up and dropped them in the trash can behind the hostess podium. As she passed the table with the young couple they passed ehr something. Zeref didn't realize what they handed her until she sat down. Straw wrappers.

"How often do you guys come here exactly?" He asked. They seemed familiar with the staff and other regulars.

"Pretty often. The food's good, the staff is friendly, and it's not too expensive for two high schoolers to frequent."

Zeref felt as if he'd entered an alternate reality. He'd never even remembered his servers name beyond when they hand him his food, and he never got to know regulars at places he frequented. Even Zera, who was incredibly shy, seemed completely at ease with this setting. How was it Mavis seemed to make friends with everyone wherever she went? This entire ordeal was completely foreign to him. But then again, Zeref usually went into a restaurant, ordered, and didn't say another word to anyone. Mavis didn't seem the type of person to do that anywhere, much less a familial sort of restaurant like this.

Zera stared in on her next crawly snake, and Zeref altered between watching her and watching Mavis, whose face was set in intense concentration. Her fingers traced her thought pattern, absent mindedly showing the ways she was contemplating moving the pieces. She seemed pretty confident with her abilities, she wasn't even bothering to look at Zera's drink to see how much time she had left. As Zeref watched Mavis smirked and sat back, taking a long drink from her Dr. Pepper.

"Are you finished?" Zeref asked, glancing at Zera's drink. Between her crawly snakes and drinking, it was already a quarter empty. One large gulp and it wouldn't be unreasonable for a waitress to top it off. Zera did just that as she finished her last crawly snake.

"Yes," Mavis said. Sue, noticing Zera's depleted drink, signaled to the other waitress, and glass of lemonade. She poured some of the contents from the spare glass into Zera's glass.

"Time's up Mavis," She said.

"Good, because I'm finished."

The couple from the other table got up to watch, the other waitress, and even the chef left the kitchen to watch.

"The rules were," Mavis declared confidently, "that I had to start with _this_ hole," she indicated the empty spot, "and end with a blue peg _here."_ She indicated a hole that was currently occupied by a red peg. "And I had to do it three times before Zera's first refill."

Zeref shifted, slightly uncomfortable with everyone crowding around his table. They were all focused on Mavis, he knew, but he was feeling a little claustrophobic. He glanced over at Zera and saw she was shifting slightly closer to Mavis. So he wasn't the only one feeling it.

"Ready, go!" Sue said, and it was like someone flipped a switch in Mavis. Gone was the confident flamboyant girl who had been basking in the attention a moment before, Mavis's entire demeanor changed. She was all business now. Her hands moved quickly, but in a controlled fashion that let Zeref know she was still mindful of her audience, making sure they could follow her moves. In no time she had finished the puzzle once, and was setting up the game again.

She finished that game, and then the next one within five minutes. When she made the last move of the third game the crowd gathered applauded and congratulated her on completing another challenge.

"Very Impressive," the chef said before he made his way back to the kitchen. The crowd cleared, Zeref and Zera relaxed, and Mavis returned the pegs to the board and replaced the game where it had been when they sat down.

"So how was your first puzzle experience?" Sue asked when she returned momentarily to refill Mavis's drink.

"Oh, um," Zeref replied. "Wow." Sue chuckled.

"That was our reaction at first too. Mavis here is very impressive." Zeref nodded. Sue left again, and Mavis grinned at Zeref.

"Well now you know," Zera said, "exactly how smart Mavis is."

"That _was_ pretty impressive," Zeref said. "Did you have all three games planned before you even started?" Mavis nodded.

"And how many other ways to solve it did you have?" Zera asked, with something akin to pride in her voice.

"Two, for a total of five," Mavis said, now seeming a little embarrassed. Zera chuckled in a way that said she'd thought as much, and Zeref found himself in awe of Mavis again.

He couldn't help but imagine what having someone like her under his employ would do for his gang. He pushed that thought away again. It didn't matter what having a strategist like her would do for his more covert operations, because she was just a highschool girl, not a criminal like him.

 _Still,_ he thought as their food arrived, _that was impressive._


	3. Chapter 3

***A/N- Guess who finally updated their fic! This girl! Sorry for the super long wait, I had to step back from fanfic to manage to pass high school, (I did but barely) and now I am a college student with a little time on my hands. I'd love to be able to promise regular updates, but I can't, but I can promise to do my best!**

 **X x x x**

"I still don't understand," Mavis sighed, rocking back in her seat discontentedly.

"It's alright," Zeref encouraged, "don't get frustrated. Here, let me explain it a different way." He pulled the book closer to himself, Mavis scooted closer to see better.

"See this is the atomic number, and you have to multiply it here by this number to convert it into the form you need."

"And it's the same always?" She asked, her brow furrowed. Zeref glanced up at her face, her eyes focused critically on the text.

"Yes, every time you want to convert something from this form to this form you multiply by that number."

"Why?"

"It's the difference in mass." Mavis nodded, then pulled her notebook closer to herself and worked out the equation. Once she finished she looked up at him quizzically. Zeref, ignoring their proximity, leaned over to look over her work. He smiled when he saw that it was right.

"See? I told you you could get it!"

"Yay!" Mavis cheered, throwing her hands in the air. Zeref chuckled, he loved her energy, even if he found it hard to keep up with at times.

"Okay, there's something in the next chapter I didn't understand," she said, changing subjects suddenly. She seized the book and pulled it closer to her, flipping pages. Zeref furrowed his brow as she turned the pages, noticing the organization of the book.

"Hey, hold on, can I see that?" Mavis glanced back up at him, then nodded. Her green eyes filled the corner of his vision as she watched him examine the book. He flipped a few pages, then turned back to the table of contents, reading through the chapter order and contents. "Interesting. Your book is organized differently than the one we used at my high school. I actually think I like yours better."

"Really?" Mavis asked. Zeref nodded. "That's interesting."

"'O ow're 'ings at work, eref?" Yury asked, spraying crumbs everywhere.

"Um, what?" Zeref asked, while Warrod scolded Yury for talking with his mouth full.

"He asked how your day at work was," Mavis clarified.

"Oh, uh," he said. When he made up the lie about working in retail he hadn't realized that they would care enough to ask him about his day.

He thought hard about how to answer, he needed to make up a lie that he would be able to remember later, which meant it needed to be close to the truth. What would he have been doing if he hadn't wandered off? It was the eighth, which meant there was a massive arms shipment coming in that his people were annually hired to escort. The September shipment was the biggest of the year, no doubt Invel was stressing about it right now. Not to mention now that he thought of it, it was about time for them to start fencing the paintings that some of his had stolen last month. On top of all that Zeref had disappeared again.

Having Zeref gone certainly wasn't the end of the world. Invel was extremely loyal, not to mention cool and analytical under pressure. He could run things on his own while Zeref was gone. Zeref trusted him to do that and not try to takeover the business, which was great for Zeref because it meant he could go wherever he wanted whenever he wanted.

"Zeref, you still with us?" Mavis asked, raising her eyebrows. He shook himself, then nodded.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just been, hectic. We are expecting the largest shipment of merchandise of the year, and we have to fen- I mean sell what we have right now to clear up space. There's also a lot of security concerns that come with getting deliveries of new merchandise. We have to guard our store, and the shipment, and be sure that the delivery time remains secret or else someone might try to ambush the trucks."

"It sounds like your store sells some pretty high value merchandise," Precht said.

"You could say that," Zeref replied.

"What sort of stuff do you sell?" Warrod asked.

"Oh, um, it's seasonal, kinda. The stock changes pretty frequently."

"Seasonal? Like Christmas?" Precht rolled his eyes at Yury.

"No, not Christmas," Zeref laughed. "The stock just rotates frequently."

"That's interesting," Mavis said. "What's in the delivery you're about to accept?" _Damn it, all these specific questions._

"I'm not really supposed to talk about it," he said nervously, hoping they wouldn't ask any more.

"Really?" Yury asked, "why not?"

"It's pretty valuable." Zeref replied. At least that wasn't a lie.

"Ohhh, how cool," Mavis said.

"If your job is so important do they pay you a lot?" Precht asked. Zeref's mind drifted to his incredibly large overseas bank account.

"A good bit," he answered vaguely.

"So then why are you tutoring for seven jewel an hour?" Yury asked.

"Um…" Zeref said nervously, glancing at Mavis. The real reason is that he'd lost sight of reason when Mavis had asked him. The glow of her green eyes was entirely too magnetic. All three grown men laughed like they knew what he was thinking.

"Don't worry kid," Yury laughed, "it happens to the best of us."

"Wait, what?" Mavis asked. "Did I miss something?"

Miraculously, that was the end of his interrogation. They seemed satisfied with the explanation that he just couldn't say no to Mavis. _It happens to the best of us,_ Yury had said.

x x x

"What do you think of Zeref?" She asked, speaking for the first time on her and ZEra's walk to school.

"He seems nice, he's quiet, and smart. Why?" She glanced over at Mavis. "Uh-oh, I recognize that face. What do you think of him?"

"At first I thought he was just reserved, and a private person, but now I'm not so sure."

"So what's your evidence?"

"He dodges questions, and not the sort of questions that would suggest a dark past, they're the kind of questions that make me think he has a dark present."

"Such as?"

"He's very vague about his job. He said he worked retail, but there was a flash of something in his face when he said it, and he said he isn't supposed to talk about the stock he gets, and that it's seasonal. He never told us what store he works at, only that he's paid a good amount and he does a lot of coordination and security."

"If he's paid well why does he need to tutor on the side?"

"Yury asked him last night, but just laughed and said 'happens to the best of us' when he didn't respond."

"Weird, but if Yury doesn't think it's suspicious, let's move past it."

"Agreed. So what kind of retail store requires a lot of security, has valuable and seasonal merchandise, and wouldn't want his employees to discuss its contents."

"Diamonds and art come to mind," Zera suggested. "Both of those would be valuable enough to warrant security and wouldn't want people to know the exact transfer schedule, and could have stock that rotates frequently."

"When Yury asked if it was a holiday store Zeref did say it was frequently rotating, so maybe he misused the word."

"And jewelry stores do run specials for holidays sometimes," Zera put in.

"You're right, and it wouldn't be outlandish for an art gallery to do similar promotions, and they would both have high turn over, but I can't imagine why they would want their employees to be secretive about what they sell."

"Maybe it's like a country club store, some of those have private memberships."

"Maybe, but it could also be a cover," Mavis said darkly.

"Do you think he's a criminal? A fence, maybe? That would make retail only a half lie, maybe he panicked."

"I think it's worth looking into. I hope I'm just being paranoid but…"

"But you're rarely wrong," Zera finished. "So how do you want to do this?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll figure it out."

"Are you going to tell the guys?"

"Not yet, not until I have something concrete."

x

They spent their breaks plotting out their plan of action. They obviously couldn't confront him, if he was not guilty then they would only hurt his feelings and drive him away, leaving her tutor less, but if he was guilty it would let him know they were on to him and he would flee, or hurt them. Neither of those two things were ideal.

"What are we going to do if we find out he's a criminal?" Zera asked once, while Mavis was taking notes.

"...I'm not sure," she said, "but I have to know." Zera nodded solemnly. "I guess we'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it."

"And hope it doesn't collapse beneath us," Zera replied darkly. Mavis nodded. They were in dark waters, she just hoped they didn't drown.

x

"Subtlety is the best course of action, we need to go on as if nothing were wrong, and we don't suspect anything" Mavis said. She and Zera were in the library, looking over a wide range of books, from detective novels to articles on real crimes, and they were taking notes furiously. The plan was for Zera to keep them at her place, lest Zeref find them and discover what they were up too. Luckily she hadn't planned on seeing him tonight so she didn't need to come up with an excuse to get out of it.

"That shouldn't be too hard. He barely knows us, so even if we are acting strange he wouldn't know it," Zera commented. She was flipping through the biography of a real life detective, taking notes from the chapters on his undercover work.

"You have a point," Mavis agreed.

"Look at this," Zera said, sliding her book over in front of Mavis, her finger marking the place she wanted Mavis to read. "He says here he made a habit of asking questions that weren't about what he wanted to know, but related enough the answer might accidentally give context he needed."

"That's a good idea." Mavis said, making a mental note.

"Plus, you're inquisitive by nature, so if you start asking a lot of questions he probably wouldn't second guess your intentions." Mavis nodded.

"We need to make a list of questions we should ask him, staggered and not all at once of course, and take note of what he says." Zera nodded.

"We shouldn't consider tailing him, I think," Zera said, "if he's a criminal he would be better at it and notice us."

"You're right, though it would be useful to know where he lives, I agree it would be to risky."

"I bet his phone is passcode protected, so we can't find incriminating evidence there."

"Not to mention if he caught me snooping I'd lose his trust forever, and probably a tutor if he's innocent."

"So let's go over what we know," Zera said, pulling out a list. "He's vague, possibly because he's a private person. possibly because he's hiding something."

"He claims he works in retail, with valuable and secret merchandise, maybe a cover as a fence."

"We need to know more about how he spends his free time, maybe ask him if he has a hobby?" Mavis nodded.

"That's a good, safe question. Maybe I could bring up one of my hobbies, offer up information about myself so he's less suspicious." Zera nodded, making a note of something. "However,' Mavis continued, "if he is dangerous and I give him too much information about himself then that could lead to problems, so I'll need to be careful."

"He already knows where you live and the names and faces of everyone you love," Zera reminded her, "telling him you like chess will be pretty much meaningless if he wants to hurt you."

Mavis grimaced, glancing sidelong at Zera. She could have just put her into danger by introducing her to Zeref and bringing her into this, but she also couldn't deny that she needed Zera and a second opinion.

"We need to make note of what we know about his personality as well, the strange way he acts and things, those could provide clues as well."

"Well you know more about him than I do," Zera said, turning to a blank piece of paper in the journal she'd designated for this investigation, "so let's go."

"He's lonely," she said on impulse, remembering that night on the street. "He told me so the first time we met. I believe him because I don't think he meant to. He looked just as surprised as I did." Zera noted this.

"He also graduated early, that should be easy enough to check in his school's record, but we'd have to find a way to break in, or at least lie our way in." Zera nodded.

"It shouldn't be too hard for us to get our hands on one of their school uniforms, they might even be similar to ours." Mavis nodded.

"I'll have to find out which school he went too, he's actually mentioned it once, but not by name. It's an innocent enough question. He said he was supposed to be in the grade above us, and I don't see why he would lie about that." Zera took a note of his possible age and grade.

"I think the age he gave you is real too, he looks too much like a teenager to be much older."

"We don't know anything about his friends," Mavis said, "I can try and get that information out of him as well."

"If they have criminal records that should be useful," Zera replied. "Unless they're minors too and their records are sealed."

"Hmm," Mavis said. "We don't have much to go on here. But we should look into recent criminal activity in our city and take note of anything that looks relevant."

"Agreed."

By the time they were finished they had filled up the first few pages of Zera's journal and printed out a few news articles on recent criminal activity. Apparently the mob had been restless recently, and cops were investigating. It was possible, given Zeref's young age, he was operating as part of a team and not a solo player.

Mavis's next scheduled time to see Zeref was tomorrow, and they were both waiting with baited breath to see what happened.

x x x

He knew he shouldn't be tutoring her, and he knew he shouldn't be spending time with her, but he couldn't help it. He _needed_ something normal in his life. Eating dinner with Mavis and her family was like his crutch, the thing he used to get through his daily life. He didn't deserve it, and he certainly didn't belong there, and yet he came every time Mavis called. A little voice in his head was saying what harm could it do, so long as he didn't do any harm. Studying and dinner a few times a week couldn't kill her, could it? It's not as if he were being followed, he'd know if he were, so really if he interacted with girls his age on his break he wasn't putting them into danger, right?

But there was another voice in his head, one that spoke out of darkness and pain, that told him everything around him was doomed to destruction. It reminded him of his family, and his friends, every single subordinate that had ever died until he'd fallen so far he could no longer feel, and he'd operated in a haze, until one day a pair of bright green eyes had cleared the fog, and he was thinking clearly, but not, for the first time in years.

Everything he'd ever seen, and everything he'd ever been through were conflicting stories of what he should do, clamoring and playing in his mind so loud he could hardly stand it, the only time the maelstrom was quiet was when he was with her, the only time he was at peace was when she was around.

He just hoped his peace wouldn't come at the cost of hers.


	4. Chapter 4

***A/N- Sorry for the long wait again, I know I'm trash.**

X x

"So you mentioned your school the other day," Mavis started, not looking up from her work, but watching his reaction carefully out of the corner of her eye. "Where did you go?"

"Abarless High," he said offhandedly, looking through her homework assignment. "It's the next district over from yours, I think." _Yes, he isn't suspicious,_ she thought triumphantly.

"As long as you're not from Pegasus High, I think I'd have to disown you." Zeref chuckled.

"They're your rival school, aren't they?"

"They think they're so cool!" Mavis burst out angrily, momentarily distracted. "A few Pegasus boys used to harass me and Zera on the bus for months before we put them in their place!" Zeref put down her assignment to raise his eyebrows at her.

"I _have_ to hear that story."

"Alright so one day they were talking loudly about us, as usual, some of them were being vulgar. One said that all girls from my school were dumb sluts, and Zera was about to fly off the handle. I turned around and made eye contact with the one who said it, and he took a half step back, Zera said I looked so scary, and I just started crying."

"You...cried?" Zeref asked, confused. Mavis nodded proudly.

"Like open mouth, head tilted back, ugly sobbing. Zera caught on to what I was doing and she started crying too."

"Why though? And you can cry on command?"

"Well, you might have noticed, I look a good deal younger than I actually am."

"It hadn't passed me by."

"And what would you do if you saw a group of boys making two sweet little girls cry?" Understanding dawned on Zeref's face as Mavis's eyes gleamed.

"You made the crowd intervene for you, that's-that's…"

"Brilliant? I know. Just like that the same people that were content to ignore them constantly harrassing us were suddenly all on their feet, mobbing these boys, telling them off and threatening to teach them some manners while Zera and I stood back and watched. I made eye contact with one of the boys to make sure they knew _exactly_ what we had done. From the look on his face he got the message."

"That's _insane_."

"And the best part is the driver kicked them off the bus and told them a couple of no-good bullies weren't welcome on it again." Mavis grinned evilly.

"Incredible. I can't believe you got someone thrown off a bus line. That's amazing." _Good acting and strategy like that would make her an asset to your operation,_ he thought instinctively. _Shut up,_ he told himself. Mavis smiled in a self-satisfied way.

"Well, you work with what you've got."

"You've got a lot to work with," he said, impulsively. His face flamed and Mavis giggled, smiling.

X x

"He didn't even flinch when I asked about his high school, Abarless by the way."

"Any other useful information?" Zera asked, making note of his high school.

"Well I mean he was pretty much in awe of us getting those boys kicked off the bus."

"It _was_ pretty cool."

"Other than that there wasn't really any useful information."

"Okay so let's think about Abarless High, and how we can get in to check his records."

"Their uniforms really don't look anything like ours so we'd have to steal one or break in," Mavis said, "but I don't know about getting my own personal criminal record to match the one we think Zeref might have."

"You might have a point," Zera agreed, "so we'd either need a foolproof plan or a way to ease around the rules."

"Well lets think about this critically, school records are confidential, probably locked up in the headmaster's office. We wouldn't be allowed access to them. Who is allowed that sort of thing?"

"Parents, the person themself, maybe future employers?"

"I'm Zeref's employer," Mavis said, grinning evilly.

X x x

"Hi yeah, I run a small tutoring business, we've been looking to expand recently and I got an application for a lad who claims to have graduated early from this high school. Now I'm not asking you to disclose any confidential information, but can you confirm for me this boy went to your school, and maybe tell me a little bit of what he was like. We don't want to give some psycho access to children, now do we?" Mavis was using her best professional grown woman voice, and it seemed to be working.

"Right of course not, what's the student's name?"

"Zeref Dragneel." Mavis glanced at Zera, who had her pen out and at the ready. They had taken a bus several neighborhoods away to use a phone booth outside of their usual haunts. It was a good thing they were both so small so they could fit into the booth together.

"Oh, Zeref!" The headmaster said brightly. Mavis and Zera exchanged a glance and Zera began scribbling furiously. "So he's trying to get a tutoring job? Good for him, brightest boy I ever met, if not a little introverted."

"So you're confirming that he attended your school?"

"Yeah, and he graduated early too, real genius. He didn't talk much, but he seemed like a sweet kid, a gentle soul. He didn't have many friends, really kept to himself, but all the teachers loved him."

"Is that so?" Mavis asked.

"Oh yeah, they all say the same thing. 'He's so smart, and participates in class, but I've never known him to strike up a conversation.'"

"So he avoided people?"

"I don't know I'd put it that way, he would never ignore anyone who tried to talk to him, but he never tried to initiate interaction, as far as I know. Practically lived in the library, must have read every book in the place."

"And he never had any disciplinary problems?"

"No, never! He was a model student!"

"So, would you reccomend him for a tutoring job?"

"Absolutely, and good for him, I hope you give him the job, he'd be a real asset to your growing business!"

"Alright, thank you so much for your help!"

"No problem."

Mavis hung up, and gave Zera a meaningful look. She glanced down at Zera's journal to see that she had transcribed the entire conversation.

"I thought it would be good to have it recorded, so we wouldn't forget anything," Zera said.

"Good thinking," Mavis replied.

Mavis and Zera found a nearby diner and ate, deciding since they'd gone out of their way they should take advantage and go to a restaurant they normally wouldn't consider. They found a small diner and took a corner booth away from the rest of the patrons so they could have some privacy.

Zera flipped open her journal, adding information to the front page, a profile of Zeref. There was a creepshot of Zeref that Mavis had taken while he wasn't looking paper clipped to the top and a handwriting sample stapled to the bottom. Zera filled in the information about his education and added a few notes at the bottom about how much the headmaster had recommended him.

"You know if he is innocent then I'm going to feel really weird about having made this notebook," Zera said, looking at his profile page. It looked like something that you might see on a wanted poster, it was very thorough.

"Agreed," Mavis said, "but even after that glowing recommendation from the Headmaster I'm still suspicious, it's just a feeling."

"Well, that's good enough for me, I've never known your 'feelings' to be wrong. If this guy still gives you the creeps, we should keep looking."

"But that's just it!" Mavis said, flipping the journal shut as the waitress came to take their orders. She continued speaking in an undertone once she'd left again. "He doesn't give me the creeps, he's exactly what the headmaster said he would be. He's sweet and shy and honestly seems like a good kid."

"I got the same vibe from him, but no one ever said criminals couldn't have a soft side."

"That's true. I just wish we knew more about him."

"So invite him over some more," Zera said. "Start hanging out."

"I'll think about asking him to hang out."

Zeref sat in the shade of a tree, staring up at the sky. He was _so_ bored. Turns out he didn't actually have a life outside of his Black Market, and now tutoring Mavis. There was nothing to do. He hadn't even bothered to buy one of those phones that can download the games that Serena was so obsessed with, so he was left to sit under a tree in the park and think. _About what though?_ _Mavis? My gang? Quantum theory?_

Up until now if he'd been bored he'd simply go back to work and find something to do. That felt somehow wrong, like he shouldn't be tutoring Mavis and running a black market at the same time. He still didn't know why he was so concerned, but he was. He didn't want to go back to work just yet, so here he sat, under a tree, bored.

 _What did I used to do before I was in charge of the nation's leading blackmarket?_ He suddenly remembered long afternoons spent reading in the high school library to avoid speaking to anyone. Public libraries were still a thing right? He could just go in one and sit down and start reading, then he would be less bored.

He got to his feet, resolved to find the nearest library and get lost in a book. He was actually looking forward to it, it had been a while since he'd been able to read for pleasure. No to mention the public library was bound to have a wider selection to choose from, he'd nearly wrung the high school one dry. It didn't take long, he'd stopped a random person on the street and asked for directions. He'd never done that before. _I'm trying all sorts of new things recently._

X x x

He walked straight into the YA section, deciding pleasure reading would come first. Maybe he would do some informational reading later. Maybe he'd read about police procedure, to see if anything had changed since the last time he'd looked. When he eventually went back to work he'd need to be able to keep ahead of the police. Zeref scanned through the YA book titles and landed on one called " _The Demon King_ " by Cinda Williams Chima, it sounded interesting. The book totally drew him in, he was halfway done with it before he lifted his head again, and he only did because he felt someone standing over him.

"I haven't seen you before, do you have a library card?"

"Um, no," he said, shrinking away from the woman slightly. "Sorry."

"Its no problem, they're free, we can get you one right now."

"Really?"

"Yeah, would you like to check out that book?"

"Yes please," he nodded. He followed the woman to the desk and gave her the information she asked for. He hesitated a little bit when she asked for an address, so they could mail him his hard copy when it was ready. He didn't have an address, so he gave her Invel's. He wouldn't mind anyway. When it came in the mail Invel would be a little confused, but probably would just hold onto it for him until Zeref showed up.

Zeref went back to his little reading nook and sat down, determined to finish this book before the library closed. He checked the hours on the door and saw there was still a good bit of time left. He had nearly finished the book when he heard a very familiar giggle float through the shelves. It snapped him out of his reading stupor and brought him back to reality. _Mavis?_ He got to his feet and walked in the direction he heard them to find Mavis and Zera pouring over very large stacks of books and a journal that Zera was taking notes in.

"Mavis?" Zeref said. Both girls jumped violently, startling Zeref. He hadn't meant to scare them. When Mavis's eyes snapped onto him they quickly scanned his body, almost like Mavis was doing a threat assessment. Her eyes landed on the book in his hand and she grinned.

"I _love_ that book!" She cried. "Zera look, he's reading _The Demon King_! And look where his finger is marking the page! He's almost done!"

"I love that book!" Zera replied. "You're in for quite the ride buddy," she said. Both girls smiled easily at him like they were old friends. Zeref looked amusedly at Mavis and Zera's large stack of books.

"Oh, Zera and I are collaborating on a crime novel," she said, waving her hand dismissively at their mountain of reading material.

"Really?" He asked, walking forward. Zera closed the journal and nodded. She gestured to the seat across from them and he sat. "Is that the story?"

"Nope," Mavis said brightly, "it's just the notes for it, but it's top secret, you're not allowed to read it."

"Why not?"

"Because it isn't finished," Zera said. "Duh."

"Right, sorry," He surrendered.

"So who's your favorite character of the book so far?" Mavis burst out, like she couldn't contain herself anymore.

"I really, really like Raisa," Zeref replied.

"Same!" Mavis cried.

x

 ***A/N- Okay so the book they're talking about is my favorite one of all time I love it so much this is the second fanfiction I've written it into and it won't be the last. Other than that I'm sorry for the long wait!**


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